Do you have to reinstall XP if you reformat your hard drive?

Question

If so, ls there another way to clean your hard drive completely off without reinstalling xp?

Answer 1

Why are you attempting a format?
The main reasons are:
A)- VIRUS/Malware/spyware infection.
B)- You installed some thing that you can not now get rid of
C)- Computer is unstable
To assis t further I need to know why you are rolling back?
Usualy I recomend that you log in to safe mode with network support, as the administrator (User name administrator No P/W) then get the directory (To see this directory you may have to when in "MY COMP" goto tools and Options and selevt view and show all folders
" C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME"
Copy this to a jump drive or save on another computer that is on the network or on a second HDD (drive) if installed
this directory will have all your music, pics and doccuments.
You will need to reinstall the apps.

Prior to doing this I reccomend running a virus scan spyware scan (Windows defender adawareSE by Lava soft and or spybot)

When in safe mode virus/spyware most likely will not run because there not "windows components" and will not be able to mask themselves from scann. allowing removal

also empty :
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\cookies
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\temp
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\temporary Internet
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\history

This is where viruses and spyware hides, after deletion of sone issues they can come back and this is where they come from.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

Formatting the hard drive wipes EVERYTHING off of it. You will need to reinstall Windows and all your programs, and will need to backup any music, pictures, etc you want before you do the format.

There is no way to complete clean off everything without formatting. To do a reinstall of Windows XP usually only takes about 30-45 minutes.

Answer 3

Reformat erases everything. So yes. You can clean individual things, but no, there is no way to wipe everything other than the system - it's too tied into everything else. Even if you uninstalled every program separately, it would leave a lot of stuff leftover that only a reinstall of windows would ever clear out.

Answer 4

you don't have to reinstall xp, but you're going to need some sort of operating system. once the drive is formatted and partitioned or w/e you can put any os on there you want. if you're looking for something other than windows give ubuntu a shot. (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download)

Answer 5

Reformatting your hard drive erases everything. You will have to reinstall.

Otherwise you can do a defragging and temp file removal and that will keep your hard drive clean

Answer 6

reinstallation is the least confusing way. you're able to might desire to format all drives formerly you install on it. Alternately you need to use a separate application like DBan to delete the contents of the HD securely

Answer 7

Well if you're gonna format your HDD it wipes off everything including the OS. Hence, you need to reinstall.